Newsletter - Outdoor Spaces Update 4

28th  May 2019

PUKAKI PLAY SPACE
Last week we met with a group of builders who are going to be installing the playground by Pūkaki. The trees had to be assessed to ensure they are healthy and safe to have a play area underneath. Beaver Tree Services completed this in the Term 1 holidays.
It is important to note that this first project is not for the sole use of the NE team. Many children prefer smaller enclosed spaces when they play, and all children in Year 1-4 will be able to play in this area.
PŪKAKI WORKING BEES
Carmel Wade is our main coordinator for this project and we will be working on site with a group of builders on 15th-16th June. We would love the help of approximately 10 people for these working bees on each of these days. You would be required to help dig the sandpit, plant trees, assist with some of the foundation work and help install the stones for the sandpit. If you are able to help, please fill in this google form with your expression of interest. 

JUNIOR PLAYGROUND UPDATE
The children across the school have all had the opportunity to create their concept plans for the Junior Playground. Unlike other institutions, it is important for us to have as much student involvement as possible as they are the kaitaiti of the school grounds.  As a school, we view this as a wonderful authentic learning opportunity for our students and want them to be a part of the process as much as possible. 

Their ideas have been collated and sent to Rachel Annan and Nik Kneale (landscape architects) to be incorporated into plans. They both have huge experience designing school outdoor spaces and will use their expertise with the designs. Nik designed the Treemendous area in 2018. We are hoping that these plans will be completed over the next 3 weeks. Once complete, we will be asking students, the school community and staff for feedback on the preferred plan. After this consultation, the decided plan will be priced up and we will be in the situation of starting the development, hopefully at the beginning of  Term 3.

We also met with Sam from Smile Dial (a charity specialising in supporting students with special needs). He gave us some guidance on creating spaces that cater for sensory, behavioural and physical needs. This will be of benefit to both Beckenham and Ferndale students. Sam’s recommendations will be included in the Design Plans. 

Last week the Ministry of Education was on site to review drainage issues around the admin building. This now sees them completing further work outside the admin block over the Term 2 school holidays addressing drainage and resealing the area. Luckily for us, this means that the money raised by our incredible PTA will not need to be spent resurfacing some of the outside areas and can be best used on improving spaces across the school.

We are currently in the process of applying for grants to resurface the Junior Playground. The replacement cost of this is between $60,000-$80,000 which is huge. We very much hope that our grants will be accepted. We are putting in grants for other areas across the school, including painting games on the asphalt and constructing small games areas such as gaga ball.

We have been given trees to be used for landscaping across the school from Trees for Canterbury and these are currently being cared for by the children until they need to be used in Term 3/4. We have also applied for a selection of fruit trees through the Resilience Network Canterbury.

 Newsletter - Outdoor Spaces Update 3

We held a community meeting to discuss the Pūkaki play area on 4th March. It was great to have so many people interested interested with this first project. This meeting highlighted the need for us to create a space for our school community, to be able to easily access the information about the outdoor spaces development around the school and to keep the school community informed of up and coming events.

A tab has been created on the school website for you to be able to access from one place all the newsletter updates that we send out, along with information about the processes we are following and the projects that are currently being worked on.

We are aware that the development of the outdoor spaces is taking time. As a committee, we are committed to ensuring that we achieve the best possible outcomes for all. Having student voice and involvement is an important element of this process as the children are the ones who will be using the spaces and are our guardians of this land. We also want to ensure that the areas created across the school have a consistent ‘flow’. The school cultural narrative is our guiding theme. The cultural narrative is our story and what makes our space in the world unique. Here is our school cultural narrative if you are unfamiliar with it. It also explains the development and significance of our school logo and building names.

We have developed a set of protocols to be governed by to ensure the developments across the school are equitable. These are the Beckenham Outdoor Spaces Committee Process Protocols
as approved by the BOT:

Guidelines/Process
1. Gather Ideas (Students) based on set criteria.  They must:

• Support our cultural narrative
• Be accessible for all children
• Support neurodiverse as well as neurotypical students (different spaces for different purposes; busy/quiet spaces)
• Be achievable 
• Be within the set budget (organised by the Outdoor Spaces team)

2. Refine ideas and put in 2-3 plans for consideration
3. Involve experts (landscape architect and playground expert) to review the plans
4. Confirm the plan- costings, timeline etc.
5. Ensure plans meet safety guidelines
6. Install the project

Here are our latest developments 
Pūkaki Play Space The plans for the Pukaki play space are all ready to go. We are awaiting a tree report to understand the viability of working on and around the tree roots.

Junior Playground
 The children are currently being asked for their input into the refurbishment of this play area. We plan to repaint and repair damaged and worn areas on the current playground and will add new items to enhance what is already there. The children across the school will be asked for their ideas for what they would like to see updated and added. It is important that we have student involvement as they are the ones who will be using the area. We would like to begin this over the Term 2 holidays and complete this in the first few weeks of Term 2 so the children receive the greatest benefit.


Court Markings
 We are aware that we need to add some court games across the school. The senior school are investigating what types of court markings that they would like to install across the school. This may include hopscotches, four square, twister, chess etc. We will send out the plans when they are developed. This will give the children more games to be able to play at break times and maximise the use of our court space.

Examples of court markings

Trees for Canterbury 
We are currently putting in an order from trees for Canterbury for us to use across the school.

Outdoor Spaces Committee

 Newsletter - Outdoor Spaces Update 3

We held a community meeting to discuss the Pūkaki play area on 4th March. It was great to have so many people interested in this first project. This meeting highlighted the need for us to create a space for our school community to be able to easily access the information about the outdoor spaces development around the school and to keep informed of up and coming events.

A tab has been created on the school website for you to be able to access the newsletter updates that we send out all in one place, along with information about the processes we are following and the projects that are currently being working on.

We are aware that the development of the outdoor spaces is taking time as we have had to work with the MOE and having heritage trees on site. As a committee, we are committed to ensuring that we achieve the best possible outcomes for all. Having student voice and involvement is an important element of this process as the children are the ones who will be using the spaces and are our guardians of this land. We also want to ensure that the areas created across the school have a consistent ‘flow’. The school cultural narrative is our guiding theme. The cultural narrative is our story and what makes our space in the world unique. Here is our school cultural narrative if you are unfamiliar with it. It also explains the development and significance of our school logo and building names too.

We have developed a set of protocols to be governed by to ensure the developments across the school are equitable. These are the Beckenham Outdoor Spaces Committee Process Protocols as approved by the BOT:
Guidelines/Process
1.Gathering Ideas (Students) based on set criteria they must

• Support our cultural narrative
• Be accessible for all children
• Support neurodiverse as well as neurotypical students (different spaces for different purposes; busy/quiet spaces)
• Be achievable 
• Be within the set budget (organised by the Outdoor Spaces team)

2. Refine ideas and put into 2-3 plans for consideration
3. Expert involvement (landscape architect and playground expert) of review of the plans
4. Confirm the plan- costings, timeline etc.
5. Ensure plans meet safety guidelines
6. Install the project

Here are our latest developments 

Pūkaki Play Space

The plans for the Pukaki play space are all ready to go. We are awaiting a tree report to understand the viability of working on and around the tree roots.

Junior Playground 

The children are currently being asked for their input into the refurbishment of this play area. We plan to repaint and repair damaged and worn areas on the current playground and will add new items to enhance what is already there. The children across the school will be asked for their ideas for what they would like to see updated and added. It is important that we have student involvement as they are the ones who will be using the area. We would like to begin this over the Term 2 holidays and complete this in the first few weeks of Term 2 so the children receive the greatest benefit.

Court Markings

We are aware that we need to add some court games across the school. The senior school are investigating what types of court markings that they would like to install across the school. This may include hopscotches, four square, twister, chess etc. We will send out the plans when they are developed. This will give the children more games to be able to play at break times and maximise the use of our court space.

Examples of court markings

Trees for Canterbury 
We are currently putting in an order from trees for Canterbury for us to use across the school.

Outdoor Spaces Committee